Linux server administration¶

This page explains how to perform Digital Archive related web host administration tasks on an InMotion virtual pritave server (VPS).

Caution

This documentation on this page assumes that you already know, or will learn, how to perform basic system adminstration tasks. For example, you must be able to navigate the file system, edit and delete files, and be familiar with system administration duties such as database management, permissions, FTP, and such. If these things are foreign to you, do not attempt to perform these tasks.

WHM¶

WMH stands for Web Host Manager. All of the Digital Archive sites are hosted on a dedicated Linux server which you manage using WHM.

To learn more about WHM, visit https://docs.cpanel.net/whm/

Tip

Use the search box at the top to quickly find a feature. For example, as you type ftp, the features will immediately narrow down to just those related to FTP. This same technique works in cPanel.

Upload and extract a zip file¶

Follow these steps to upload a zip file to the web server and extract (unzip) its contents.

Note

A zip file's contents are always extracted into a new folder having the same name as the zip file. The contents are never extracted directly into an existing folder. As such, you may have to move the contents after you unzip them.

Upload the zip file¶

Go to cPanel and choose File Manager
Navigate into the folder where a new folder should be created for the zip file contents.
For example, if uploading an Omeka plugin, navigate into the plugins folder.
Click Upload in the top menu
Select or drag-in the zip file to begin uploading it
Wait for the upload to complete. When complete, the progress bar will:
- Show 100% and change color from blue to green
  !cPanel(linux-server-2.jpg)
Click the Go Back to link at the bottom of the page to return to the parent folder
Verify that the zip file is there. If not, click Reload in the menu above the file list

Extract the zip file contents¶

Right click on the zip file name and choose Extract
Click the Extract File(s) button
On the Extraction Results dialog, click the Close button
A new folder will appear having the same name as the zip file
If you don't see the folder, click the Reload button

Delete the zip file¶

Right click on the file name and choose Delete
On the Trash dialog, check the box that says Skip the trash
Click the Confirm button

Tips & Tricks¶

Use https://skipdns.link to access a site that's not accessible before switching DNS or namesevers.
Use yum instead of pip to install on centos.
Use https://www.whatsmydns.net/ to see what DNS a site is using from various locations

Compress a large folder on the server using zip¶

Use the zip command to avoid issues using the cPanel Compress feature. Also, the zip command reports what it's doing. As an example, to compress the files folder of a Digital Archive installation:

Open a terminal window
cd to the digitalarchive folder
Type the command below

zip -r file-name.zip directory

Compress and extract a large folder using tar¶

Compress

tar -czvf files-name.tar.gz directory

Extract

tar -xzvf files-name.tar.gz

What to do with the download file¶

Download files are in tar.gz format. Follow these steps to get the contents.

Download the file to the local computer
Upload the file to a temp directory on the server
Extract the contents on the server
Use the files on the server or download them to the local computer

Advanced System Administration¶

Configure PHP settings¶

To specify PHP configuration settings for a single site:

Log into WHM
Choose List Accounts
Go to cPanel for the digitalarchive.us domain
Choose MultiPHP INI Editor
Select the Basic Mode tab
Choose the site from the dropdown menu
Make the desired setting changes
Click the Apply button

Contact Manager¶

To control what notifications get emailed to you as the WHM administrator:

Log into WHM
Go to Contact Manager

Use the Communication Type tab to set the level of notification for Email (recommend High only).

Use the Notifications tab to set the importance of various kinds of notices. Not all notices are listed. If you are receiving unexpected emails for notifications you don't want to see, contact Inmotion support.

Disk Usage¶

To determine how much disk space each site it using:

Log into WHM
Choose List Accounts
Go to cPanel for the digitalarchive.us domain
Choose Disk Usage
Scroll to the bottom of the page where disk usage is listed by directory
Expand the domains directory to see usage for each domain

View logs for child processes¶

To see if any sites are hitting their max_children limit, open a WHM Terminal window and type the command below:

cat /opt/cpanel/ea-php81/root/usr/var/log/php-fpm/error.log |grep max_children

To change the max_children limit for an individual site:

Log into WHM
Go to MultiPHP Manager
Choose the User Domain Settings tab to see a list of sites
Find the site of interest and click its PHP-FPM Settings button
Change the value of the Max Children field
Click the Update button at the bottom of the page
To go back to the list of sites, click Go Back To User Domain Settings

View the CSF config file¶

Log into WHM
Choose Terminal
Type cd /etc/csf
Type less csf.conf
Use the up and down arrow keys to scroll a line at a time
Type q to quit

Check the status of SSL certificates¶

Go to the cPanel for digitalarchive.us
Choose SSL/TLS Status in the Security section

Check server status and uptime¶

WHM > Apache Status

Blocked IP addresses¶

To view blocked IP address, and to perform other IP operations:

Log into WHM
Go to ConfigServer Security & Firewall

To check for a blocked IP address:

Scroll to the csf - ConfigServer Firewall section
Paste the IP address in the text field next to the Search for IP button
Click the button

Edit the crontab file¶

Open a WHM Terminal window
export EDITOR=nano
crontab - e

Reboot the server¶

WHH > System Reboot > Graceful Server Reboot