Chapter 30. Securing the Web Server

IN THIS CHAPTER

Setting basic security options for your websites and related services

Using HTTP authentication to protect individual folders

Configuring your web server to use SSL

Setting up Mac OS X Server's forward proxy server

Mac OS X Server can host any number of websites of any complexity, from the most basic to the most elaborate. Setting up a basic site is simple, yet Mac OS X Server provides detailed control over configuring every facet of your web server's overall behavior as well as the characteristics of individual sites.

In this chapter, I couldn't hope to tell you everything you may want to know about setting up websites, so I assume you already know the basics (or can learn about them elsewhere) and focus here solely on the settings that have the most interesting security implications. These include a few miscellaneous site-specific settings, using realms to limit access to portions of your site, encrypting your site using SSL, and setting up your server to function as a forward proxy server for the rest of your network.

For thorough instructions on all aspects of setting up and running websites using Mac OS X Server, read Apple's free PDF Web Technologies Administration, available at www.apple.com/server/macosx/resources/documentation.html.

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