nixCraft Linux Sys Admin Blog

How To Install Ubuntu Linux Under Windows Vista / XP With Wubi

Posted: 26 Apr 2008 10:20 AM CDT

You can install latest Ubuntu Linux 8.04 under Windows Vista / XP without creating a new parition with a new tool called Wubi. It is a Ubuntu installer for Windows users that will bring you into the Linux world with a single click. Wubi allows you to install and uninstall Ubuntu easily. This blog post covers basic installation:

With the latest release of the popular Linux-based operating system, Ubuntu Hardy Heron, the installation process just got easier for Windows users who wish to try out an alternative to Vista or XP. Even .NET developers who are looking out on trying the Mono project (the .NET platform for Linux-based operating systems) can benefit from it. All this is possible thanks to a little Windows utility called Wubi, which is an installer for Ubuntu.

mod_compress: Lighttpd Gzip Compression To Improve Download and Browsing Speed

Posted: 26 Apr 2008 09:18 AM CDT

Gzip is the most popular and effective compression method. Most modern web browser supports and accepts compressed data transfer. By gziping response time can reduced by 60-70% as compare to normal web page. The end result is faster web site experience for both dial up (they're not dead yet - I've dial up account for backup purpose) and boradband user. I've already written about speeding up Apache 2.x web access or downloads with mod_deflate.

mod_comress for Lighttpd 1.4.xx

Lighttpd 1.4.xx supports gzip compression using mod_compress. This module can reduces the network load and can improve the overall throughput of the webserver. All major http-clients support compression by announcing it in the Accept-Encoding header as follows:

Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate

If lighttpd sees this header in the request, it can compress the response using one of the methods listed by the client. The web server notifies the web client of this via the Content-Encoding header in the response:

Content-Encoding: gzip

This is used to negotiate the most suitable compression method. Lighttpd support deflate, gzip and bzip2.

Configure mod_compress

Open your lighttpd.conf file:
# vi /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf
Append mod_compress to server.modules directive:
server.modules += ( "mod_compress" )
Setup compress.cache-dir to stored all cached file:
compress.cache-dir = "/tmp/lighttpdcompress/"
Finally, define mimetypes to get compressed. Following will allow to compress javascript, plain text files, css file,xml file etc:

compress.filetype           = ("text/plain","text/css", "text/xml", "text/javascript" )

Save and close the file. Create /tmp/lighttpdcompress/ file:
# mkdir -p /tmp/lighttpdcompress/ # chown lighttpd:lighttpd /tmp/lighttpdcompress/
Restart lighttpd:
# /etc/init.d/lighttpd restart

How do I enable mod_compress per virtual host?

Use conditional $HTTP host directive, for example turn on compression for theos.in:

$HTTP["host"] =~ "theos\.in" {   compress.cache-dir = "/var/www/cache/theos.in/" }

PHP dynamic compression

Open php.in file:
# vi /etc/php.ini
To compress dynamic content with PHP please enable following two directives:
zlib.output_compression = On zlib.output_handler = On
Save and close the file. Restart lighttpd:
# service lighttpd restart

LimitRequestBody: Apache Limiting User Upload File Size

Posted: 26 Apr 2008 09:52 AM CDT

I'd like to put limits on user file uploading size. How do I restricts the total size of the HTTP request body sent from the client under Apache 2 Web server?

Answer to "LimitRequestBody: Apache Limiting User Upload File Size"