Configure a Web Server

See below for a full explanation of what is needed. Scenario You must identify the context that your server is intended for in advance. You are free to choose a scenario that interests you, as long as it allows you to perform the tasks required. We would recommend that you select something along the lines of the following: A club A small online business A small conventional business adding an online presence A school If you are not sure that your scenario is appropriate, discuss it with the tutor or on the discussion forum. Whatever scenario you choose, it is important that there should be a clear business need for all of the technologies listed below: virtual directories virtual servers PHP (note: your PHP implementation should make use of the server's API, ie. PHP should not run as a CGI program) MySQL HTTP authentication SSL certificates CGI application PHP application Describe your scenario on a new sub-page of your usual COMP 470 Landing page, labeled TME 5 and tagged with (at least) COMP 470 and TME5. It should take up less than the equivalent of a letter/A4 page (500 words or less). For each of the technologies that you implement, provide a sentence or two explaining the need for it in the scenario you have described. Note that you must include all of the required technologies and you must justify any others that you use. If you cannot do that, then you have chosen the wrong scenario. TOP Configuration Configure a web server, including (but not necessarily limited to) all of the following technologies: virtual directories virtual servers PHP (note: your PHP implementation should make use of the server's API, i.e., PHP should not run as a CGI program) MySQL HTTP authentication SSL certificates CGI application PHP application If you use any other technologies then they must be justified in the context of your scenario. If your server is running things that have no business justification, get rid of them, or you will be penalised for installing unnecessary technology! A Special Note about Names To set up and adequately test both virtual hosts and SSL you will need to access your web server by different names, which must actually exist on your network. Luckily, web servers don't really care about whether a name is an actual host name or an IP address so, for making virtual hosts or specifying holders of SSL certificates, the IP address and the host name will be treated as different machines. In addition, if you are browsing your server from the same machine that it is running on, you can use the reserved hostname "localhost" or the loopback IP address, 127.0.0.1. If you are feeling very adventurous, you might even try modifying your machine's HOSTS file (a system file used by TCP/IP), which can be used to map any arbitrary name you like to any arbitrary IP address. If you're not sure of the name of your machine, there are utilities in almost every operating system that will tell you (ipconfig from the command line in Windows, for example, or ifconfig in Unix-like systems such as Linux or MacOs). Deployment and Testing Deploy and manage the web server, monitoring and optimizing performance and security. Normally this will mean hosting and accessing it on your own computer, but you are welcome to make it available on the Web if you wish. Makes sure that you test the machine sufficiently to ensure that all of the things you have configured are working properly. Use appropriate log analysis tools (e.g., Analog) to demonstrate that it ,and save the output for your learning journal. Additional evidence may be offered as you see fit. Note that you will not be assessed on the content of the site, but there should be sufficient pages, programs, and media files to prove that it works.