Dedicated-newbie questions

Hello, I just upgraded from shared to dedicated, and am lost with these

[phoenix_fly]

Hello my friends

I had everything figured out at the shared server environment, crons, processes and all. But now Iīm completelly lost in the dedicated server I have to get running. Can you guys give me some quick light or directions on these?

- I just cant install pico. I runs into dependency problems and I get lost how to install the other required files, wich I donīt have any clue about where to get. Isnīt there a more practical way of installing these utilities in unix? This server runs RedRat Enterprise, and in the shared host I had Debian Sarge. Iīm beginning to think it was a very bad move.

- I canīt understand the web structure. I find it strange that there are two document roots, the 'httpdocs' and the 'httpsdocs' (at the Plesk I remember to have chosen them to be the same, so why they're different?), and also that the 'cgi-bin' folder isnīt inside them, but in paralel ( If I create a 'cgi-bin' inside the 'httpdocs', Apache will complain, right?)

- The file names get blue at the shell, and I just canīt see a thing. And canīt change it, because the vi editor literaly requires you to read a book about it, otherwise you wonīt manage to have it do anything for you, as itīs incredibly enigmatic and unfriendly. Can you change that?

- I donīt understand when I have to login as 'root' and when I have to login as 'virtualshelf'. And, also, why when I login as 'root', how do I get to the 'virtualshelf' folders located?

Well, I wait for your help then

Thanks a lot

phoenix_fly

[encyclo]

I don't have much knowledge of RHEL (I prefer Debian or Ubuntu myself), but for pico, try typing "nano" - it should already be installed and it is a functional equivalent.

For the file locations within the Apache installation, they are undoubtedly configurable, try digging around in the httpd configuration files (httpd.conf, vhosts.conf, perheps a RHEL expert could guide you more?). I tend to always prefer running sites out of a user directory anyway.

For the login, it is usually good practice to connect using your non-root account and su to root once connected.

I would recommend using an old PC connected to your local network, and set it up using the Centos [centos.org] equivalent of the RHEL version you are running (Centos is a free, debadged clone of RHEL). That will enable you to tinker with your test machine without risking breaking the main server whilst you learn the new OS.

[SeanW]

1 - pico is part of pine... Try nano, joe, or hey, just learn vi (no, you don't have to read a book about it, once you realize you have to be in the right mode to do anything, it's pretty easy)

2 - cgi-bin should be outside of docroot so that people can't read cgi scripts accidentally. httpd.conf determines what gets read and where. Your setup must come from some sort of cpanel/plesk/whatever, since it's not part of the RHEL/CentOS systems I've set up

3 - Sure, just "unalias ls"

4 - cd ~virtualshelf

As the other poster mentioned, it's good practice to log in as an uprivileged user and su to root.

[phoenix_fly]

Hey Sean and enciclo,

Thanks a lot for the posts. Things are clearer now.

Iīll setup Centos, to dig deep and get more familiar with it all.

Take care

phoenix_fly