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Using an Ubuntu cloud server for a single website, are there any drawbacks from just using the default /var/www folder and the default Apache configuration and getting on with it?

Someone suggested to me that there may be security and performance issues with the out-of-the box approach as outlined above.

Having got the website up and running with the default configuration, what (if any) are my next concerns regarding managing the server well?

Notes:
* The application is a commercial Drupal 6 eCommerce site.
* I am using Ubuntu 12.04 and latest releases of Apache, PHP & MySQL.

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  • I am not all that experience with web servers and will leave that part open. However the first part of securing any server is not to run anything which is not needed, thus avoiding potential future security problems with the unneeded services. The second part of securing it is keeping what is used up to date (OS, webserver, PHP, drupal, etc etc)
    – Hennes
    Jan 1, 2013 at 11:24
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    I would go with that configuration for the moment. No real security reason to do otherwise. You should get you site up and running and then worry about performance issues.
    – fpmurphy
    Jan 1, 2013 at 14:52

1 Answer 1

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There are no drawbacks for /var/www folder. Every DocumentRoot has separate configuration, so in the future, other websites will be possible to configure in other folders without affecting current website.
However, I would make a few adjustments for the default configuration. Make sure that indexes are off and you allow access for everyone only to what you have to allow (i. e. avoid allowing anyone with any IP access Drupal's administration panel). Apart from that - Apache's default configuration is reasonably safe. Yet, you probably will be interested in obtaining a free StartSSL.com SSL certificate for your eCommerce site. Lastly, just close down MySQL port for public.
Next, you should simply look for bottlenecks and various Drupal optimizations.

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  • Tnx .. sounds good.
    – harunahi
    Jan 1, 2013 at 21:35

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