Last month, I walked you through the basic tools and techniques in putting a Web page together using open source applications. This month, in part two, let's examine the tools and techniques for transferring your pages to the web server as well as the applications and methods for monitoring and securing your site, starting with hosting the site itself.

There are two different ways to host a web site.

One is to do it in-house, using your own servers, supported by your own personnel. The other is to put your pages on an ISP or web hosting site. Both types have their pros and cons. I've discussed building a basic web server in an earlier LinuxPlanet article. We won't go into the details of running a server, but we can look at techniques to copy your files to the web server, whether it is located down the hall or across the country in some ISP/web hosting data center.

Once you've built some pages for your web site, you'll need some way to get them to your server, whether local or through your Internet Service Provider.

• For local servers you can use the secure copy program called scp. Scp works just like the normal Linux cp command, except that it lets you copy files between machines. The form of the command is:

  scp localfile remoteserver:/directory/filename

• For ISP or Web Hosting servers my favorite ftp client is gftp. gftp has a nice graphical interface that has your local files on the left side of the screen and remote files on the right side. It's very intuitive to use and you can highlight files, click a left or right arrow between the lists and transfer files easily. It also remembers your ISP server name, user name and other information so you don't have to type it in every time.

Several tools are at your disposal to monitor your site. Of course, large web sites and sites that host database applications require sophisticated logging and site analysis processes. Our business site has mostly static information that is useful for the readers, although the data should be updated regularly. Several Linux and web based tools can give you web site volume statistics and which pages were visited. Obviously, if you are running the web server yourself, then you can make the monitoring as comprehensive as you like. If you use an ISP/Web Hosting based server, then browser based monitoring is what you'll use. Here is a rundown of the tools.

On Your Company Server

Most people that are running a Linux web server use Apache. Make sure that Apache has been installed and if not, install it, using the method supplied by your version of Linux. I like SUSE Linux, so when I want to turn the Apache server on or off, I just go into the YaST runlevel editor and start or stop it. When Apache is running, it will log activity to files in the /var/log/httpd directory.

Two files named access.log and error.log record such things as dates and times of access, pages viewed and types of requests. They also record the starting and stopping of the Apache server, as well as problems that develop. The access.log file is particularly interesting because you can see what pages on your site have been accessed and then draw conclusions as to what visitors to your site find interesting. If web cruisers are looking at articles on your site, but not your catalog, perhaps your catalog is boring or maybe there is some problem with your catalog pages. Maybe there is an error that is preventing readers from even looking at your catalog pages. Better check it out. When the logging is enabled, you should keep an eye on the files in the /var/log directories because over time they could fill up the disk.

Another useful Linux tool for monitoring your web site is Snort. Snort is actually an intrusion detection system (IDS). It is well suited to watch activity on ports (normally 80 or 8080 for Apache on Linux boxes) and logs any attempts at connection to your web server, in the /var/log/snort directory.

Also, don't be afraid to take a look at your web site, just as a customer would see it. If you've just brought your new company web site up, log in from home and view it. Don't be surprised if you see layout errors, typos, bad links or broken graphics. Don't panic, just make some diligent notes and then fix them as soon as you can. A log file of errors and repairs kept on the web server, is a great way for your crew to see what's broken and what needs to be fixed. It's kind of like a poor man's trouble ticket system.

You might even go to some public location that has web access, such as a local library and take a look at your site. Normally, public web access facilities run very generic settings on their browsers (like 800 x 600 resolution), so right away you will see if you have designed an easy to use site. If your main company page has to be scrolled horizontally or the fonts are really hard to read, perhaps you should make some revisions, so your readers won't have to work so hard.

On Your ISP/Web Hosting server

My particular Internet Service Providers uses a web based application called Urchin. I just log into my web statistics page and can see the number of visitors I've had in a week, month or over the last year. The application also let's me see which pages have been visited and by how much. Last week I looked at my stats and noticed that some areas of my site were being visited during the past month or two, that previously hadn't had much activity. Now, I just have to figure out how I can capitalize on this new information.

One of the most important aspects of using a web site to promote you business is to integrate it smoothly into your operation. Several areas will need attention.

Any type of document, advertisement, product, marketing piece, press release or article should include your web site and email addresses. Also, be sure to get your web site address on your business card and letterhead, as well.

The update and maintenence of you web site should be done on a regular basis. Visitors to your site like to see new content and good numbers come from providing constantly updated information and links. Surely, just about anyone in your company could contribute. Get some of your marketing people to start the ball rolling with some interesting articles on how your company was started or a company profile. Then, maybe the sales people would want to take a shot at writing about some of your products and how they could benefit the customers. Have some of your best customers produce a testimonial letter and post that on your site. The list is endless. Even though I said that graphics consumes quite a bit of bandwidth, several well chosen pictures can be worth a thousand words.

You may not have the staff or the inclination to update your site daily. How about weekly or even monthly? Many businesses also write monthly newsletters and post them on their sites. Remember, the main idea is to supply your customers with information that will help them to decide to choose your company over someone else.

Your company web site doesn't have to be the latest whiz-bang technology or horrendously expensive to be effective, especially using Linux. With Linux you can edit your files on your desktop, send them to a Linux (Apache) based server and monitor visitor activity using built in logging functions. Even in a mixed environment, you could do your editing on your Linux desktop and transfer the files to an ISP/Hosting service, without difficulty.

Providing information about your business is what a visitor expects from your business web site. It's really a pretty straightforward process, that can provide a wealth of customers from all over the web.

Rob Reilly is a Technology Writer and Speaker, whose articles appear on LinuxPlanet.com and in PC Update Magazine. He's particularly interested in stories about Linux on the Desktop/Laptop, recycling with Linux and portable computing. He's currently developing seminars on OpenOffice.org Impress, Road Warrior techniques and business web basics. Send him a note or visit his web site at http://home.earthlink.net/~robreilly.

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