VPS question

[Dude]

it looks like if you have VPS hosting, just wondering if anyone knew anything about these operating systems?

CentOS 4.4
Debian 3.1
Debian 4
Fedoria Core 6
OpenSESU 10

thanks,

[karmacode]

Virtual Private Server:::: (I.E) THIS INFO I GOT IT FROM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_server hope it helps you!!

servers have no direct access to hardware and are usually booted from a disk image.

There are 2 kind of virtualizations: software based and hardware based. In a software based virtualization environment, the virtual machines share the same kernel and actually require the main node's resources. This kind of virtualization normally has many benefits in a web hosting environment because of quota incrementing and decrementing in real time with no need to restart the node. The main examples are Virtuozzo (a product of swsoft.com), HyperVM (a product of lxlabs.com), and openvz which is the core kernel of both virtuozzo and hypervm.

In a hardware based virtualization, the virtualization mechanism partitions the real hardware resources and no burst and/or realtime quota modification is possible. The limits are hard and only modified after a restart. This kind of environment is more secure and is useful in enterprise/commercial usages. Examples include Microsoft Virtual Server, VMWare, and Xen (open source by a group of university students in the UK, developed as an academic project).

[edit]
Uses

Virtual private servers bridge the gap between shared web hosting services and dedicated hosting services, giving independence from other customers of the VPS service in software terms but at less cost than a physical dedicated server. As a VPS runs its own copy of its operating system, customers have superuser-level access to the machine, and can install almost any software that runs on the OS. Certain software does not run well in a virtualized environment, including firewalls, anti-virus clients, and indeed virtualizers themselves; some VPS providers place further restrictions, but they are generally lax compared to those in shared hosting environments. Due to the number of virtualization clients typically run on a single machine, a VPS generally has limited processor time, RAM, and disk space.

Due to their isolated nature, VPSes have become common sandboxes for possibly-insecure public services or update testing. For example, a single physical server might have two virtual private servers running: one hosting the production-level (live) website, and a second which houses a copy of it. When updates to crucial parts of software need to be made, they can be tested in the second VPS, allowing for detailed testing to be conducted without requiring several physical servers.

Virtual private servers are also sometimes employed as honeypots, allowing a machine to deliberately run software with known security flaws without endangering the rest of the server. Multiple honeypots can be quickly set up via VPSes in this fashion.

Virtual private servers are often used by aggressive search engine marketers and web spammers as well.

[Dude]

thanks I almost always check wikipedia but I forgot this time. :)

[karmacode]

lol no prob!!! :)

[sdevaney]

Well Lets make a list...

CentOS 4.4
My personal favorite Linux OS. It is easy to use and very reliable.
http://www.centos.org/

Debian 3.1
A good choice although the interface is clumsy and is aimed more at website hosting.
http://www.debianhelp.co.uk/index.php

Debian 4
Same as above....Although this is the latest stable release.

Fedoria Core 6
This is my second choice I have not used core 6 yet but core 4 & 5 were very good.
http://fedoraproject.org/

OpenSESU 10
Have never had the opertunity to try this OS but I don't like Novell based products anyways....It is based off of Novell's SUSE Linux..I don't happen to know the website off the top of my head like I did the others but a little google search and you should be able to find it.

[Dude]

thanks for the information sdevaney (http://www.hundredbling.net/member.php?u=17702), I am looking to use them on our host to run this site, so I think the main thing would just be that they don't crash under normal use.
I won't be installing any software or running anything else so I can't think of any other difference it would make.

[razorone]

I think i would go with Fedoria Core 6 it is awesome just my 2 cents

[sdevaney]

Well as I said CentOS or Fedora are your best options IMHO.

[SirDudly]

What I read on CentosOS and Fedora, either would be good choices. But I would chose CentOS myself cos of its ability to deal with slow networks better vs. Fedro :D

[sdevaney]

What I read on CentosOS and Fedora, either would be good choices. But I would chose CentOS myself cos of its ability to deal with slow networks better vs. Fedro :D

Good point and with this being a forum not a whole lot of code tweaks can be done without the chance of royally messing something up :lol2:

[Dude]

ok, next question for any VPS expert out there.

I have an account set up and I have an ip address. what I want to do is be able to access it through ftp but when I try typing in the ip address into my ftp program it says:
530 permission denied.

normally I would type in something like ftp.hundredbling.net but I don't have the domain name pointers changed. so I am trying to access it with the ip address, is there some trick to doing this?

[sdevaney]

No not really your IP and your domain name should be interchangeable once the domain is set up and DNS'ed.

It seems you may need to edit your httpd.conf file or it could be firewall or port blocking ports 20 or 21....or your ftp program is in passive mode...those are the normal causes

[Dude]

I found out that I can connect if I use the anonymous setting instead of my username, but then it takes me to a directory called "pub" which I can't find using the files utilities.

I changed the passive setting, that didn't seem to make any difference.

I have not changed the domain name servers, because I don't want to take the site down while I try to figure out if this is working or not, so I am using the ip address.

[sdevaney]

So you have already created a username and pass for FTP on the VPS? What O/S did you choose?

[Dude]

I went with CentOS 4.4, and it appears that when the system was installed someone created a user, I didn't do it.
can I create a new user and then give them ftp access?

I think it is something with the passwords, because when I use the anonymous ftp it works fine, I found the pub directory and uploaded a file and I can see it when I use the anonymous ftp.

[Dude]

just noticed when I click on ftp under servers it says:

WU-FTPD Server The FTP server /usr/sbin/in.ftpd could not be found on your system. Maybe it is not installed, or your FTP module configuration is incorrect.

[sdevaney]

Yea you can create a new user and give them FTP access but your root user should have it already.

Hmmm......so you do not have vsftp installed...I am kind of confused but try this

http://vsftpd.beasts.org/

[Dude]

yeah, I would think so too..

how do I go about creating a new user?

[sdevaney]

1. ssh to your server as root
2. Create a user: useradd sdevaney
3. Expire ther user immediately: chage -d 0 sdevaney
4. Set blank password: usermod -p "" sdevaney
5. If you want to set the user's password:

* su sdevaney
* passwd


Oh and of course change my name with whatever one you choose.

[Dude]

do I have to log off or exit or anything when I am done?

[sdevaney]

no there shouldn't be a need for a reset

[Dude]

I guess this is unix and I suck at it...
I guess su is changing the directory?
and do I have to type

passwd "abc"

like that to make the password abc?
or can i do it like

passwd abc


thanks for your help this seems to be working.

[sdevaney]

you shouldn't need quotes it is normally just used if there is to be no password


I know just enough to get me in trouble is all.

[Dude]

it tells me
only root can specify a user name

what does that mean?
and can I delete this account if I can't set a password for it?

[sdevaney]

Well that seems that you are not logged in as root. Which is strange because whoever created the VPS should of given you root access if not then anything you want to change or create has to go through them.

(default root login is root:root or on some systems home:admin but the second one is very rarely seen.)

Yes you should be able to delete it although I don't know if you cant log in as a root user.

[Dude]

ok, new problem the ftp user I just created can't seem to upload anything. it says 553 Could not create file. :(

is that

root:root

what I type in when I am loggin into ssh?

and do you know the command off hand to delete a user?

oh, and thanks very much for all the help. :)

[sdevaney]

ok, new problem the ftp user I just created can't seem to upload anything. it says 553 Could not create file. :(

is that

root:root

what I type in when I am loggin into ssh?

and do you know the command off hand to delete a user?

oh, and thanks very much for all the help. :)

You have to mod the user to allow write access to the user by chmod.

Yes that is the common default login for ssh
username: root
passwrd: root

userdel deletes users if I remember correctly

[Dude]

what does the command

chage -d 0 sdevaney

do?

and I logged back in as root:root and tried to change the password and now I my user can't log into ftp anymore. aaaarg.

[sdevaney]

it just means the user will never expire

[Dude]

ok, it looks like I can create a user without a password, but they can not upload any files.

and if I give them a password then I can't log in ftp...

what do you suggest I try next?

[sdevaney]

the reason they can not upload files is because they need to be given permission

[Dude]

ok, how do I give them permission?

oh, and can you just tell me everything else you know, really quick? :D

(just kidding)

thanks again for your help, this new host better run faster after all this. :)

[sdevaney]

chmod u+r+w+x

That should give you read write and execute permissions...I think hehehe

u = user

r = read

w = write

x = execute

[Dude]

how come when I search for unix commands on google I can't find any of these?

(I knew I should have paid more attention in my unix classes) :)

[Dude]

so I type

chmod u+r+w+x sdevaney

right?

[sdevaney]

you know I have no idea why you cant find any of these....they are the basic ones...hehehe it gets a lot more complicated

Also another thought is next time you want to add a new user give them their own directory.....but that can be discussed later if need be.

[sdevaney]

so I type

chmod u+r+w+x sdevaney

right?

no you shouldn't need the username at the end the u in the command means the owner of the file or directory

[Dude]

how do I check to see how many users I have already added?

[sdevaney]

To list all users on a Unix system, even the ones who are not logged in, look at the /etc/password file.

you will also see Unix system accounts, such as "root", "bin", and "daemon" in the /etc/passwd file. These system accounts are not Unix users.

[Dude]

ok, it appears I now have some users with passwords I don't know... not sure how that happened.

can I change their passwords, or do I just delete them and start all over?

also, after I type "su sdevaney" how do I undo that, get back to where I was before I typed that in?

[sdevaney]

well you can do either one you can change their pass or you can delete them its up to you.

su just means you assumed the login shell of the user sdevaney without needing to log out.

I think you can just su root and get back to the root user.

[Dude]

ok, I got the password thing fixed...

but when I type

chmod u+r+w+x

it tells me too few arguements?

[sdevaney]

you need to add the filename you are modding at the end

in this case try adding the username to see if it works

if it doesnt then we know that chmod can only be used to

edit file permissions and not user permissions

[Dude]

chmod can not access sdevaney: permission denied. :(

any other ideas?

[sdevaney]

are you logged in under the root?

[Dude]

yes, and I can create the users and change their passwords so I must be.

[Dude]

ok, I was logged in under sdevaney, I did the su root and entered password
then did the

chmod u+r+w+x

command and it says: can not access sdevaney: no such file or directory

[sdevaney]

well the only other thing I can think of is creating groups for users...kind of like what is on the forum with VIP's, Admins, Mods, etc...

[Dude]

do you know the command for that?

[sdevaney]

hahaha....more like commands....its somewhat complicated but here goes


# pw groupadd myfirstgroup
# pw groupshow myfirstgroup
myfirstgroup:*:1100:

The number 1100 above is the group ID of the group myfirstgroup. Right now, myfirstgroup has no members, and is thus rather useless. Let's change that by inviting sdevaney to the myfirstgroup group.



# pw groupmod myfirstgroup -M sdevaney
# pw groupshow myfirstgroup
myfirstgroup:*:1100:sdevaney

The -M option is a comma-delimited list of users who are members of the group.

[Dude]

got this message after I typed first command

bash: pw: command not found.

that does not sound good.

[sdevaney]

sorry....pw is short for the command passwrd which I believe is the centos command

[Dude]

if I just type

groupadd myfirstgroup
groupshow myfirstgroup


it takes the first one then says: groupshow command not found on the 2nd one.

[Dude]

I tried

groupmod myfirstgroup -M sdevaney

I also tried it with a lower case -m but it says invalid option to both

[sdevaney]

um...maybe try....showgroup....im not real sure I am using unix commands not centos specific ones...i dont know those...

[Dude]

groupmod [-g gid [-o]] [-n name] group

what about a -n instead??

[sdevaney]

groupmod is used to modify a groups name or number...I dunno if it does anything else :D

[Dude]

wow I found this one, not sure what it means


NAME

groupmod - Modify a group SYNOPSIS

groupmod [-g gid [-o]] [-n group_name ] group DESCRIPTION

The groupmod command modifies the system account files to reflect the changes that are specified on the command line. The options which apply to the groupmod command are -g gid The numerical value of the group's ID. This value must be unique, unless the -o option is used. The value must be non-negative. Values between 0 and 99 are typically reserved for system groups. Any files which the old group ID is the file group ID must have the file group ID changed manually. -n group_name The name of the group will be changed from group to group_name.

[sdevaney]

Also I must point out what one of your members posted...might help you out...

http://hundredbling.net/showthread.php?t=19252

[I must be getting tired, but when I click on the link above it tells me I am not logged in and can't see it, when I use this link it works fine: http://www.hundredbling.net/showthread.php?t=19252]

[sdevaney]

wow I found this one, not sure what it means


NAME

groupmod - Modify a group SYNOPSIS

groupmod [-g gid [-o]] [-n group_name ] group DESCRIPTION

The groupmod command modifies the system account files to reflect the changes that are specified on the command line. The options which apply to the groupmod command are -g gid The numerical value of the group's ID. This value must be unique, unless the -o option is used. The value must be non-negative. Values between 0 and 99 are typically reserved for system groups. Any files which the old group ID is the file group ID must have the file group ID changed manually. -n group_name The name of the group will be changed from group to group_name.

That right there is the very very long way of saying what I just said in one sentence....

groupmod only changes the group id number or the name although now I see why people think *nix is hard :lol2:

[Dude]

thanks for pointing out the unix videos, I guess I have a lot of studying to do.

I was really hoping to upload some files, it seems like it shouldn't be this hard. :)

I think the host kind of hosed me by not giving my first account ftp access, but oh well.

[sdevaney]

I would suggest talking to them about it.

They can do it a lot faster than either of us...

We are getting to parts that I don't know anything about hehehe....

But anymore questions and I will get to them later....you kept me up till 4 AM..

It was fun though I like trying to figure things out...

[Dude]

ok, so does that mean it won't help me to upload any files? :eek:

(I mean the groupmod command)

[Dude]

do you know the command for move all the files and directories from one sub directory to another?

I just found out I can upload files into one directory, but it's the wrong one, just wondering if I could upload them and then move them where they need to go?

[sdevaney]

cp -r pointA pointB

pointA is the directory its comming from

pointB is the directory its going to

[sdevaney]

ok, so does that mean it won't help me to upload any files? :eek:

(I mean the groupmod command)

Yea it wont help you upload any files

[Dude]

I would suggest talking to them about it.

They can do it a lot faster than either of us...


when I started this, I would have whole heartedly agreed with you about that.

But after few email to them I am starting to realize that they are not going to be as much help as I had hoped.

For example, I explained my problem in detail about the ftp not working, their answer was that the best place to get help was from the signup email.

Only one problem, the signup email says absolutely nothing about ftp. :eek:


(so much for getting any help from customer support)


thanks again for all your help.

[sdevaney]

Well....

they don't have very good customer service skills

Hey no problem like I said if you have any more questions go ahead and post em and I will take a look at them and see what I can help with if anything else.

[Dude]

I when I type "ls" it says nothing, like there are no files.

I am trying to find the path name where the files are

[Dude]

I got the ls thing figured out, I had to put in a directory

ok, I tried the cp command and it did something.

I typed

cp /home/sdevaney/ /var/www/html/

and it copied the main directory called "sdevaney" and all the files.
I need all the files in that directory, without the sdevaney directory.

and now I need to know how to delete a directory.

(just making more work for myself) :D

[sdevaney]

rmdir directoryname

rmdir - removes the directory

[Dude]

I think I tried that and it didn't work when the directory was full of files.

but I found a way to work around that.

How in the heck does someone run a hosting company and have no idea how to log into a ftp account?
I just can't believe that these people are running a hosting company and when I tell them I can't log in they tell me something about a module that will allow me to upload to the root directory.

well, if I can't login, then I am going to take a wild guess that their dumb ass solution probably won't work.
/end rant :D

[sdevaney]

There was a module I gave you a link to.....a bunch of pages back...hehehe....that might or might not help its called vsftp its basicly a simple ftp program that runs on your server but it is designed for VPS'

[Dude]

they said something about

To allow root to upload you need to take it out of the "not allowed" list of PROFTPD. Please browse the PROFTPD module to find this.

but when I try to check PROFTPD it tells me that it is not installed.

is this just another case where they have their head up their butt?

[sdevaney]

Well it sounds like it needs to be installed....hehehe...and yes this seems like another case where they have their head up their butt.....unless they expect you to install it....

And if thats the case I don't know really how they expect you to upload it but in any case heres the website

http://www.proftpd.org/

[Dude]

first they said for my root user to use ftp the instructions to use ftp were in the welcome email, (the email said nothing about ftp)

2nd they said I needed to change some settings in the PROFTPD module, I checked and that module isn't even installed.

now, they are telling me that the reason I can't log in with the root user is because it is not secure if your root user has ftp access.

(here is where I would make up some smart comment, but I am too tired now).

anyway, it can't be that hard for a ftp user to be given access to upload to a folder???

of course when I get that accomplished I still have to set up a mysql database and with the way my luck is going.... it's not looking good.