Lighttpd: Installing, compiling, configuring, optimizing, and securing this lightning-fast web server

Andre Bogus

$43.99

4.3 (7 Ratings)

Paperback Oct 2008 240 pages Edition

Andre Bogus

$43.99

4.3 (7 Ratings)

Paperback Oct 2008 240 pages Edition

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Lighttpd

Chapter 2. Configuring and Running Lighttpd

In this chapter, we will learn:

How to configure Lighttpd
What Selectors are
How to use Selectors
How to rewrite and redirect requests
How to include variables in the configuration files

Now that you have successfully installed Lighttpd onto your system, I will show you how to configure it to serve web pages (yes, just web pages, nothing else) and expand from there. Lighttpd needs a configuration file called lighttpd.conf—in fact it will not run without one. To make it as simple as possible, we start with the absolute minimum:

server.document-root = "/var/www"
mimetype.assign = ("" => "text/html")

Yes, that is all. Of course you should take the path to your website as your document root. Under UNIX, /var/www is a probable path, while Windows users may want to put their site in a place like C:\www\mysite. The mimetype.assign statement simply says that everything is to be served as if it were an HTML page.

Put this lighttpd.conf into the standard directory...

Starting Lighttpd by Hand

Lighttpd can be started without the help of a startup script. The path to the Lighttpd executable depends on your system and installation. Given that it is in your path, we can start Lighttpd by using the following command:

lighttpd -f [full path to your config file]

With some distributions (especially some Windows builds), the -f option will be hardcoded, so we cannot and need not supply the configuration file path. When in doubt, refer to the documentation of the installation package.

There are also other command line options that are worth taking a look at:

Option	What Lighttpd does
-m [directory]	Loads modules from [directory], and proceeds to serve web pages (you will still need to give the configuration file path with `-f`).
-p	Pretty prints the configuration and exits.
-t	Tests the `lighttpd.conf` file for syntax errors and exits—this is useful before restarting Lighttpd and after changing the configuration to make sure no downtime will ensue.
-D	No-Daemon...

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Nahatz Sep 05, 2014

Very good reference, with "here's how you do it" explicit examples, and some theory and back ground, and gotcha's to watch for.It does have several pieces of advice on changing from Apache to Lightpd.

Amazon Verified review

Gregory C. Donald Jan 03, 2009

Summary: This book makes an excellent guide to the inner workings and configuration options for the Lighttpd web server. I found the book very concise and practical. It's simply packed full of real-world examples any sysadmin will love.Chapter 1: This chapter helps you get Lighttpd up and running on your system. I love how Debian appears first on the list of packages commands. It also includes lots of compiler options of you want to build your Lighttpd from source, and who doesn't, right?Chapter 2: This chapter breaks out a simple server configuration then adds more stuff to it, explaining things along the way. I really like this approach to learning the configuration. Next it begins to cover all the many URL rewrite spells you might cast, and then finishes up with how to easily separate your configuration into include files and what-not.Chapter 3: This chapter open with a possible virtual host setup using MySQL. I found this fairly interesting. Next it shows many different CGI options with special attention to FastCGI. The chapter finishes with an example of a simple mod_proxy setup.Chapter 4: This chapter has some very interesting info for large downloads, large directories of downloads, and traffic shaping of it all. After that you see some very nice configuration for dynamically securing download content against a database or memcache-d server. Last you get the full recipe for how to run your very own You Tube-like server.. nice!Chapter 5: This chapter explains how to do custom logging and tracking of requests. It's a good reference mostly but the GeoIP location stuff seems useful I will admit.Chapter 6: This chapter tells you everything you need to know about servicing SSL requests. Being your own CA is explained along with some easy examples for a safe and secure virtual host.Chapter 7: This chapter explains many ways you might restrict access or provide authenticated access. Next you read examples for evading DoS attacks, logging, and graphing logs using RRDtool. Last are some debug options you can turn on in the event Lighttpd is acting badly.Chapter 8: This chapter explains how and why you would want to run a chroot'd Lighttpd. Separating your web server from the operating system using local sockets is very simple it turns out. I always love as much security as I can get, don't you?Chapter 9: This chapter sorts through many ways of squeezing additional performance out of Lighttpd. It shows some ways simple ways to profile and benchmark your server, and how to cache content only where required. Dynamic content is always better and separating things is simple to setup.Chapter 10: This chapter explains how to take load off an existing Apache setup using Lighttpd as a proxy or gateway. It shows how Lighttpd can run in front of mod_php, mod_perl, mod_python, or even webdav. Seems Lighttpd can be an excellent load balancer in any mixed environment.Chapter 11: This chapter is more about serving up dynamic CGI content using things like Ruby or PHP. It shows app-level configuration options for things like Ruby on Rails, PHPMyAdmin, and Trac. The chapter made me realize just how customizable a Lighttpd configuration can be.Chapter 12: This chapter starts out with a simple Lua tutorial and then shows off some existing Lua libraries. I'm not gonna go into any detail here, either you program in Lua or you don't, and I don't.. sorry.Chapter 13: The final chapter explains how you'd go about writing custom Lighttpd modules in C. I really enjoyed this chapter the most. Writing Lighttpd modules is not exactly simple, but if you need a custom job done fast, this is the way to go.

Utahcon Jan 02, 2009

PacktPub never let's me down, and did they ever live up to their goal of packing books full with this one.Don't let the small size fool you, this book has everything you need to know to install, setup, configure, tweak, and secure Lighttpd.If you don't know what Lighttpd is then you really need this book. Lighttpd is a smaller, faster, more secure web server, like Apache, only better.Andre Bogus really breaks down what is great about Lighttpd by showing how to install Lighttpd. He also shows how you can use the power of regular expressions to tweak how your web server handles requests, and even how to secure your web server.You will learn in depth how to secure Lighttpd and be prepared for an attack, and how to react when you are attacked.You will also learn how to host multiple sites on a single server with Virtual Hosting.Andre even covers how to migrate from Apache to Lighttpd, in depth.This is really a great book, and if you are new to the world of web servers, or administration of a website it is a must!

Medvezhonok Jul 07, 2013

This is a great book. It helped me solve a problem the first day I got it. Love it! Get it!

W Boudville Dec 30, 2008

Web servers have come a long way since the early 90s. Two dominate, Apache and Microsoft's IIS. But just like there are streamlined browsers (think Opera), so too is lighttpd a fast alternative to Apache and IIS. The claim by the book is that it is a minimal web server, optimised for raw performance in serving webpages.A distinctive feature is the heavy use of regular expressions in the scripting language used to configure the server. Granted, regexp syntax can seem forbidding in its full glory. But the book starts up simply enough, and the chances are that your needs may initially be met with most simple regexp code.The logging adheres to the Common Log Format. So any downstream analysis logging code that you might have written for other servers should be runnable on lighttpd logs.One thing in common with Apache is the easy use of modules; letting you extend and customise the server.For those readers inclined to plunge in and install lighttpd, the book also offers advice on migrating from Apache. (Alas, nothing for IIS, but that's lesser used than Apache anyway.)

Lighttpd: Installing, compiling, configuring, optimizing, and securing this lightning-fast web server

What do you get with Print?

Lighttpd

Chapter 2. Configuring and Running Lighttpd

Starting Lighttpd by Hand

Other Core Options

Mime Types

Note

Selectors

Rewriting and Redirecting Requests

Including Variables, Files, and Shell-code

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