Linux Users:

1. Log into your server via SSH and then become root:

$ su

2. Stop the current MySQL instance (note that this will halt any sites that depend on it, so make sure you do this during the lowest possible traffic time).
3. Start MySQL in safe mode and skip privileges checks:

# mysqld_safe –skip-grant-tables &

4. Next, log into MySQL without a privileges check:

# mysql –user=root mysql

5. Finally, reset the password by updating the user table of the default mysql database:

UPDATE user SET Password=PASSWORD(‘newrootpwd’) WHERE user=’root’;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

(Note: replace “newrootpwd” with your actual password, preferably one you can remember)
6. Restart MySQL to get out of safe mode:

# /etc/init.d/mysql restart.

Windows Users:

Log on to your server as the Administrator. Kill the MySQL server if it’s running. To do this you need the Windows Services Manager, so click on the Start Menu, then go to the Control Panel, then to the Administrative Tools, and select Services. Here look for the MySQL server and stop it. If it’s not listed there and MySQL is till running it means that MySQL is not running as a service. In that case you need to load the Task Manager which you should be able to access using the key combination of Ctrl+Alt+Del. Now kill the MySQL process.

With the MySQL process stopped you need to force a change of passwords on MySQL using a combination of the UPDATE and FLUSH options. So launch your favorite text editor and create a new file. Enter the following text into the file replacing “NewMySQLPassword” with your new password:

UPDATE mysql.user SET Password=PASSWORD(”NewMySQLPassword”) WHERE User=’root’;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

What the first line does is that it updates the value of the field “Password” in the table mysql.user for the user “root” to “NewMySQLPassword”. The second line flushes the old set of privileges and makes sure your new password is used everywhere. Save this text as C:\mysql_reset.txt.

Next, you need to start your MySQL server passing this file as a configuration parameter. Launch a terminal by going to the Start Menu, then to Run, and then type cmd and hit Enter. Now enter the following command:

C:\mysql\bin\mysqld-nt –init-file=C:\mysql_reset.txt

Once the server is done starting delete the file C:\mysql_reset.txt. Your MySQL root password should be reset now. Now restart your MySQL server again. Go back to the Windows Services Manager again to do that. Your new MySQL root password should work for you now.

Until ISPs begin fully adopting IPv6 technology, however, IP addresses will be sold at a premium. The question is: how many do you really need for your dedicated server? The answer really depends on where and how your server is hosted, the number and type of websites you are running, and how you use your server.

For a server with a single enterprise website and one central focus, a single dedicated IP may be all you need. This, however, assumes you also have nameserver IPs on another machine or from a service. If your server is housed in a remote datacenter, your nameservers may be managed by the provider. If not, you will need at least two IP addresses.

If you have more than one website, you can usually use shared IPs for most of them, unless they require SSL for ecommerce or community logins. For encrypted sites, you will need an IP for each one, if you want authenticated SSL certificates.

If you are using your server for web hosting, you may need to regularly acquire IP addresses for your customers, and you should use a service that will allow you to quickly and easily add more. Often times, you can purchase them in bulk, depending on the number you need.

It is a good idea to know ahead of time how many IP addresses you think you might want, but even if you repurpose your server at a later date, you should still be able to add more IPs without any difficulty.

I’ve seen a lot of reasons given by ESPs for why they need so many IP addresses:

1. I need at least one IP address per customer, to handle IP based reputation
2. I need many IP addresses so my MTAs can handle the volume of mail sent
3. I need many IP addresses so that I can work around ISP throttling limits
4. I need multiple IP addresses per customer so that that customer can deliver mail in a timely manner
5. I need multiple IP addresses per customer so as to manage filtering issues
6. I need multiple IP addresses in different locations to provide redundancy against network outages
7. I need multiple IP addresses in different locations so as to provide redundancy against blacklisting of my ISP

If you are a web host which is providing a responsible and sensible service, then in your terms and conditions you will probably have conditions set out regarding up uptime, which in most cases states things such as if a customer’s service is down for over a certain amount of time, or if the monthly uptime record doesn’t meet the one which is guaranteed then customers are able to request a refund; this in itself should provide you with the motivation to fix a server problem if you have set such rules out in your terms and conditions, since most companies wouldn’t want a servers worth of customers requesting refunds since they don’t think they have been provided with the amount of uptime which has been guaranteed. Most web hosts use their own internal monitoring system for their servers, since in most cases it will alert them quicker to a problem than an external solution would since an internal system is most likely monitored more closely, but with an external solution in place as backup in case the internal one fails. One thing to consider is that most external monitoring services monitor your website or server from multiple geographically different locations which means that they are able to provide a more reliable source of information when it comes to checking to see whether your VPS or dedicated server is online or not when compared to a monitoring system which is monitoring your VPS or dedicated server from one location or from one country or data center, which means that the produced results might not always be accurate and reliable.

When considering uptime solutions for your VPS or dedicated server, you should always take into consideration the effect that a program might have on the performance of your VPS or dedicated server; for example if you use an internal solution then you might need to install an ‘agent’ program which posts data about your server back to the master monitoring node, since information such as the speed that your server’s CPU is running at and the amount of memory that your server has left are factors that can only be gained by internal access to your server unlike other factors such as whether certain services are running or not that can be found out easily via pinging the port which the service runs on. You want to try and maximize the uptime of your VPS or dedicated server, which means that you should optimize the programs that you have installed on it, so that they don’t use up too many resources since the most common reason for a server crashing is that there aren’t enough resources available to keep the operating system going, which means that it just crashes because it is unable to run for any longer on the scarce resources that are available for it.

Conclusion

In conclusion, with the use of either internal or external monitoring systems, you are able to maximize the uptime of your VPS Hosting or dedicated server, thus ensuring that your customers, if you host them on your server, are happy with the service and level of uptime that you have been able to provide them with; you are also ensuring if you use your server for other purposes such as for receiving emails or for a website that emails are received as often as possible, and that visitors will still return to your website thus increasing your amount of revenue that you earn from adverts if applicable. You can also optimize your VPS or dedicated server as well as the programs that it runs to ensure that the amount of resources used is far lower, thus ensuring that you can install some more applications on your VPS or dedicated server or leave it as it is so that it is able to run fast; if running cPanel, then you can use the new optimized version since this will run much fast on a lower specification machine since it has been designed to take up less memory and utilize less CPU.

If you choose to use an internal monitoring system then you gain the ability to monitor internal factors of your server, such as the amount of CPU and memory that is available for use by the operating system and programs that you have installed on your VPS or dedicated server – this is very important if you are running a server which is hosting web hosting and design clients, since you don’t want their websites going down because of a lack of resources. Other factors which you might want to consider when choosing a monitoring system is the accuracy of the results that are collected and in turn produced; for example, with an external monitoring system you will want to be considering how spread the multiple geographical monitoring stations are and with the case of an internal monitoring system, you should find out whether internal server resources can be monitored or not – this will give you an advantage since you will be able to monitor all aspects of your server then, both internal and external which means that accurate results should be produced.

The most popular factor when a business is considering a dedicated server is cost. Most linux operating systems are completely free, which enables gogax to offer cheap dedicated servers. As opposed to a Windows Dedicated Server which requires licensing fees for the operating system, people will tend to prefer linux for that matter.
Another factor is how reliable and secure the linux operating system has grown to become. We have seen some linux servers running for over 4 years without a single reboot needed. If we compare that to windows servers, they often need reboots after os updates, software installation and other tasks performed on the server. For a personal user this is no big deal, but if online presence is crucial to your business or online store, a reboot can mean loss of business. Many people will argue whether linux or windows is more secure and stable. With time, we personally have found that linux is more stable and can run as a web server for years without any intervention. Unfortunately, it is not the case for Windows servers today.
Linux has some great functions on dedicated servers. It does http web server (apache), php programming language, mysql database and many other features. Those are included in a default setup of the linux operating system. All these elements together offer very stable and secure performance. The best part of it all, many developers have made great free software that runs on linux operating systems. Those are all freely available on a linux dedicated server.
Security: One of the main reasons that people like Linux is that it’s more secure than Windows. The main reason for this is that Linux hasn’t been around as long, and there aren’t as many viruses built to get into it yet. This means that your website information can be somewhat safer on a Linux host.
Cost: Because it’s open source software, Linux hosting solutions are cheaper than Windows hosting options. Although most shared server options are really affordable right now, Linux often presents even more affordable options.
Scaling: If you’re going to start your website small and work it up to a larger site without changing servers, Linux hosting is definitely a good option. This type of service has very efficient scalability, and it’s really easy to keep your website going on the same platform without making any major changes.
Options: Because Linux is one of the most popular hosting options on the Internet, there are literally tons of options with it. You can find hundreds of hosting companies, many of which offer excellent services and extras to their packages.
So why not use a linux dedicated server.

The promise of cloud computing is huge and many of us in the hosting industry have solutions or ideas on what the hosting future looks like. The only fact that remains constant is the constant amount of change that moves through this industry.

It is our belief that hosting providers and datacenters need the right set of tools to manage the increasing complex computing configurations customers demand. CloudLinux was created for just this purpose. As we look to the future, there are some themes we at Cloud Linux think are important to consider when thinking about what lies ahead.

Space
For hosting providers, space is a big deal. Whether it is space on a shared server or space in your datacenter, space costs money. There was a time when bigger was better – the more servers you had, the more important you must be. But that may be changing. With the cost of datacenter space, electricity and cooling on the rise, it is time to reconsider this idea. There just is no such thing as infinite datacenter space or unlimited dollars to cover management costs.  So how do you maximize the space you have? Density and stability are the keys to solving the growing space issues. Improving server stability and therefore increasing density helps hosting providers do more with the same amount of infrastructure.

Security
Another key theme for the future is security. Headlines are filled with cyber threats and identity theft. Consumers, enterprises and small businesses alike are increasingly concerned about security.  Because of this dynamic they will continue to put pressure on their service providers to improve security and protect their data, identities and networks.

Efficiency
As the complexity of computing grows, we need to take efficiency to the next level. To keeping servers running efficiently as well as making our technical staff manage more and more complex solutions, it becomes increasingly important to maximize the efficiency of operations. At Cloud Linux, our solutions are purposely built with this goal in mind.

In general, Ubuntu Server is a very secure platform. The Ubuntu Security Team, the team that produces all official security updates, has one of the best turnaround times in the industry. Ubuntu ships with a no open ports policy, meaning that after you install the machine — be it an Ubuntu desktop or a server — no applications will be accepting connections from the Internet by default. Like Ubuntu desktops, Ubuntu Server uses the sudo mechanism for system administration, eschewing the root account. And finally, security updates are guaranteed for at least 18 months after each release (five years for some releases, like Dapper), and are free.

In this section, we want to take a look at filesystem security, system resource limits, dealing with logs and finally some network security. But Linux security is a difficult and expansive topic; remember that we’re giving you a crash course here, and leaving a lot of things out — to be a good administrator, you’ll want to learn more.

User Account Administration

Many aspects of user administration on Linux systems are consistent across distributions. Debian provides some convenience tools, such as the useradd command, to make things easier for you. But since Ubuntu fully inherits Debian’s user administration model, we won’t go into detail about it here. Instead, let us refer you to the O’Reilly Web site for the basics. After reading that page, you’ll have full knowledge of the standard model, and we can briefly talk about the Ubuntu difference: sudo.

Ubuntu doesn’t enable the root, or administrator, account by default. There is a great deal of security benefit to this approach and incredibly few downsides, all of which are documented at the man pages for sudo_root.

The user that you add during installation is the one who, by default, is placed into the admin group and may use sudo to perform system administration tasks. After adding new users to the system, you may add them to the admin group like this:

$ sudo adduser username admin

Simply use deluser in place of adduser in the above command to remove a user from the group.

One thing to keep in mind is that sudo isn’t just a workaround for giving people root access. It can also handle fine-grain permissions, such as saying, “allow this user to execute only these three commands with superuser privileges.”

Documentation about specifying these permissions is available in the “sudoers” man page, which can be a bit daunting — feel free to skip close to the end of it, until you reach the EXAMPLES section. It should take you maybe 10 or 15 minutes to grok it, and it covers a vast majority of the situations for which you’ll want sudo. When y

Passwords

I presume you know that having a password like ‘Mom’ or ‘girlfriend’ is not a good start for securing your system. I usually prefer passwords with both numerican and alphatbetical characters, plus some extra symbols. This is a good password: ILik3-PeN_gu1nS. Passwords should be complicated as there are a lot of ways someone can get your encrypted password. When we are talking about Linux systems with a webserver, the first thing that comes to my mind are all those numerous buggy CGI scripts that make you get /etc/passwd file from the attacked system. When that is done, a copy of Crack or John The Ripper can be used for cracking the password. Always remember: a good password is harder to crack. If you use some basic word for a password, a good wordlist will make the cracker software spit your en-encrypted password on the screen in no-time.

File transfer and remote logins

Think what software packages should run on your system, and remove the ones that you don’t need. If you are thinking about transfering files from and to your system shut the FTPd down. There is far more secure way that does the same – SCP. By quickly checking the man pages for SCP, we get: “scp copies files between hosts on a network. It uses ssh for data transfer, and uses the same authentication and provides the same security as ssh. Unlike rcp, scp will ask for passwords or passphrases if they are needed for authentication.”

You must login as root user to use date command.

Linux Set Date

Use the following syntax to set new data and time:
date set=”STRING”

For example, set new data to 2 Oct 2006 18:00:00, type the following command as root user:
date -s "8 FEB 2009 11:00:00"

OR

date set="8 FEB 2009 11:00:00"

Below is a listing of each of the commands that will enable a user to shut down, turn off, reboot, etc. their Linux computer from the command line.

halt
poweroff
reboot
shutdown