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Ask HN: Is there "server" software for a Windows Server?

• weaksauce 18y ago
  I think the common answer to questions of server administration on HN is to send people over to http://www.stackoverflow.com http://www.stackoverflow.com They handle the more nuts and bolts aspects of setting up servers and programming. The reason that Microsoft calls it a "server" os is because on the XP/vista they limit the number of concurrent incoming connections that the server can handle at any time to something like 5 or 10. They also limit the number of processors to 2. So basically installing software in the server version is identical to the consumer version. But to answer your question briefly, setting up server programs in windows entails going to each of the websites and downloading the programs. Double click and install. This is a bit different than the *nix way of having a central repository where you can apt/yum/dpkg/etc... to your hearts content. Also, while it is of course possible to install software from source it is not really common on the windows side of the fence. lightweight webserver: nginx(http://wiki.nginx.org/Main http://wiki.nginx.org/Main), maybe apache if you configure it. I would steer clear of IIS(which is preinstalled in the server version usually) I don't know of a good sftp server for windows but there should be plenty of them out there.
  • bjtitus 18y ago
    This kind of "server administration" topic is probably better suited to Server Fault but could probably be asked over at Stack Overflow for now (assuming it's more related to programming). Server Fault should be out in the next week.
• pietro 18y ago
  You're trying to make Windows into a Unix, but it's not. Most of your questions make no sense in a Windows context. It's very, very different. It would be so much easier to buy a book than to browse the web. That's how people learn the basics in the Windows community. Web sites are for news, documentation, etc., not for learning. Documentation is at Technet and MSDN. It's messy and hard to search, so I'd buy a few books instead. But anyway, some basics: Most of the tools are in Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools. That's where you'll find Computer Management, Services, Event Viewer (logs), etc. Most administration is done using the graphical administration tools. There are no config files. You point and click, use dialog boxes, double click installers, etc. Scripts are certainly possible, but don't start there. Remote administration is done with Remote Desktop. You can mount a local drive on the server, and that's how you normally transfer files, not using SFTP. The web server is IIS. It's already installed, but you must enable it.
  • godDLL 18y ago
    Thank you. Your insight has been most helpful, particularly the "buy a book" part. I'll do everything I can to delegate that job, and somehow escape the responsibility in the process.
• jodrellblank 18y ago
  How do you set up SFTP? You would need to install an SSH server. The Windows typical way to transfer files for administrative use is RDP with reverse maps, network shares if you have a VPN to the server, the more general way might be IIS as an FTP-over-SSL or WebDAV server. How do you set up a light-weight HTTP server? Install Lighttpd. But you have IIS, unless you need a lighterweight server you may as well use it. How do you set up Python + xCGI + Postgres? Install Postgres and Python for Windows. (NB the free Microsoft database answer is SQL 2008 Express). I don't know xCGI but Python on IIS is possible via various WSGI/CGI/ISAPI interfaces. Is there some sort of a package manager or a browser for paid server software? No. There's Add/Remove Windows Componenets in 2003 and Add Features / Add Roles in 2008 for parts supplied with Windows, but nothing central for 3rd party software. How do you secure it, e.g. what do you use for a server firewall Windows Firewall, but that will only keep traffic away from closed ports and I am hesitant to trust IIS to the internet. We use dedicated firewall devices with deep packet inspection and AV scanning for all incoming traffic (we also do that for Linux servers). permission isolation for web-facing software (sandboxing, maybe)? No sandboxing like SELinux or chroot, but a pretty thorough and integrated permissions system that runs through the filesystem, ASP.Net/IIS, SQL server, registry, and more. Don't run web-facing software as administrative users, for instance. Where is the configuration kept Typically, the registry (start -> regedit). Sometimes editable directly, but not much fun. Frequently configuration of individual components is scriptable. and the logs written? IIS, FTP, SMTP logs go in c:\windows\system32\logfiles, other programs log to wherever you configure them or with general system logs into the Eventlog (proprietary format files). Use Event Viewer to get at them (terrible program in 2003, improved in 2008) or something like psloglist from SysInternals. Where is the documentation for all of the above? Everywhere. Start -> Help, or press F1 in most of the system management consoles for a lot of text. Lots more on http://www.microsoft.com http://www.microsoft.com and http://technet.microsoft.com http://technet.microsoft.com Or more generally -- how do I make it all work? Why have you been given a Windows server that you know nothing about that appears to have no software on it? What is it and what's it for? If you want SFTP, Python, Postgres, lighttpd, you may as well format it and install Linux really. Come back when you want an office of desktop computers with central logon, policies, centralised sharable email calendar and contacts, email available on the web and Windows Mobile, shared files and folders with granular permissions, software install and desktop lockdown policies, local file caches for offline laptops, running software that everyone in your office is familiar with and can read and write Office documents that everyone you contact can use. That's where Windows/Exchange(/Sharepoint/etc) strenghs show up, and if you're not doing that sort of thing then there's not much point using Windows Server.