INLS 183
Systems Administration Assignment 4
Xerver
.doc format

For this systems administration assignment I chose to install Xerver from www.javascript.nu/server/. Xerver is web server software licensed under the GNU General Public License and is open source. The software serves as an FTP server that can be used to host a website, run CGI-scripts, and other purposes. I chose this project because I thought this would a great learning experience for me. I have little experience with server installations and wanted to gain experience with the procedures.

I downloaded the software from tuscows.com using a mirror from Tennesee. The installation wizard began the setup process. I installed the software in C:/Program Files/Xerver. The installation wizard asked if I would like to install Xerver and the latest version of Java. I was unsure about this so I chose yes.
After a few moments, the downloading process began. My firewall prompted me immediately and I accepted traffic from this program on all ports. This is when I encountered the first challenge. The Java installation began, but kept freezing up my computer. I tried to let it run for a period of time, but it would freeze and then not respond at all. I finally opened the Windows Task Manager, ended the task, and restarted the computer.

In order to avoid another mistake, I uninstalled the first version and started the process over. I checked my computer and found that I did have the Java program and therefore did not need to select this option during the setup process. I realized that I probably should have checked this the first time instead of assuming that the recommended option would be correct. So, this time I chose to only install the Xerver and not the Java program. A prompt appeared during the installation and asked me the following questions:

“Would you like to start Xerver (not the FTP server) as a background process when Windows starts? Would you like to start FTP server (not the Xerver) as a background process when Windows starts?”

I answered yes to both of the questions and the installation completed. After browsing through the website for any additional information, I opened the “read me” file and started to read the instructions for starting the Xerver. This was when I encountered the second problem. I could not get the program to work correctly because the files would not open. I tried to follow the instructions and realized that I must have done something wrong. So, I read through the help section for the software and learned that for my purposes, I did not necessarily need to start this as a background process because I am the only one that needs to control it. I then went back to the installation and answered no when the prompt asked me about starting the servers as a background process.

The installation was successful and program began working. Another challenge occurred when an error message appeared that said:

“an error occurred: you are probably already running Xerver. If you are not running Xerver already you have another application using port 80. Please run the setup and change the port number you are using to another number.”

I was not alarmed because I knew exactly how to fix this! I looked through the program for a few minutes and learned that my outer IP is: http://65.190.153.204 and my local IP is http://192.168.0.3. There were not too many options to explore, so I clicked on the Xerver Setup. The instructions said that I could setup the program remotely for the Internet or choose to do it myself. I decided to manually set up the program so I could ensure that the port was changed and all the security precautions were taken.
To experiment with the different options, I decided to use the Xerver as a file-sharing server so that only people with a username and password could access the files I decided to share.

The Xerver setup could be accessed via the Internet. This took me through a nine step process where I specified all the options for the server. I changed the port to 5080 to fix the error message I received earlier. For extra security I decided not to allow directory listing or share hidden files. I did enable the CGI-scripts to run so I could practice using this. I chose to share the C:\ directory. My root was INLS183. I created the alias 183 to point to the folder “sysadmin.” The prompt said that the alias pointed to a directory that was not shared so visitors would get a 403 forbidden error message. I decided not to do this because I did not want to risk any security problems. So, I went back and deleted the alias and moved on to the next step. I also added the index.html files. I chose to allow all file types to be downloaded with some of the features. I added myself to the access list with the username Kelly and password information science. I also chose to use the Xerver Maximum interface because it was recommended and had all the necessary features.

The program was successfully downloaded, so I begin playing around with some of the features. The first thing I did was start the FTP server. It was running on port 21. http://192.168.0.3:32124/ is the location of the server. I also began changing settings, sharing new folders, and other tasks.
This was a great program to install because it was challenging, yet very informative. This software actually worked for me and was pretty easy to understand because of the simple interface.

Email me at johnso34@email.unc.edu. This page was last updated on April 12, 2005.