How to Configure Apache 2 to Control Browser Caching

Posted on by J. Potter
Category: Technical Support, Tutorials | Tags: , , , , ,

Today we are configuring browser caching control on common Apache 2 servers. Caching is a great tool to reduce server resource consumption, bandwidth utilization and provide a faster end-user experience to visitors. To get familiar with caching concepts, simply review our ‘What is Caching?’ tutorial.

Pre-Flight Check

This article covers all Apache 2 servers running the mod_expires and mod_headers Apache modules. This includes, but is not limited to, both traditional Dedicated servers and Cloud VPS servers running a number of different Linux distributions:

  • Core-managed CentOS 7* Servers
  • Core-managed CentOS 6* Servers
  • Fully-managed CentOS 7 cPanel Servers
  • Fully-managed CentOS 6 cPanel Servers
  • Fully-managed CentOS 7 Plesk Onyx 17 Linux Servers
Note:
Self-managed servers running a similar Linux distribution can take advantage of this article. However, instructions are not specifically provided for Self-managed configurations.

The article assumes familiarity with the following basic system administration concepts:

Verify Modules

Our servers generally include both the mod_expires and mod_headers modules needed for browser cache control. However, before we configure the directives, we must first ensure the modules are installed and Apache 2 is ready to accept the directives. Verification is simple. We will be using the apachectl -M command to list the installed Apache modules while piping the output through the grep module_name command to filter the results down to showing only modules with the provided module_name, likes so:

Verifying mod_headers (also known as Headers_module) by copying & pasting the following command.

apachectl -M | grep header

… will return:

headers_module (shared)

Verifying mod_expires (also known as expires module) by copying and pasting the following command.

apachectl -M | grep expires

… will return:

expires_module (shared)

These modules must be present in the output when running the command. If they do not show up in the output, it will simply be blank, which indicates the modules are not installed. If the modules are missing then we will need to install them before we can continue.

Configuration Directives

We can use the following example of a generic configuration that serves to reduce the strain on server resources by prolonging the cache duration of common static files. These types of files typically do not change between visits. So they do not need to be downloaded on every visit. Modern browsers are equipped to accept instructions from web servers that provide suggestions for how long content should be cached. This example works well for most sites. However, you may need to add/remove file types or adjust lifespan as needed for your particular content.

<IfModule mod_expires.c>
# Turn on the module.
ExpiresActive on
# Set the default expiry times.
ExpiresDefault "access plus 2 days"
ExpiresByType image/jpg "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/png "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/css "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/javascript "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/javascript "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/x-shockwave-flash "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/css "now plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/ico "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/x-icon "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/html "access plus 600 seconds"
</IfModule>

Explanation of Each Directive

These are opening tags and will only process directives between these if the module, mod_expires, is installed on the server.

<IfModule mod_expires.c> ... </IfModule>

Download all files only if the cached has not been accessed in more than 2 days.

ExpiresDefault "access plus 2 days"
Download files only if the cached file has not been access in more than 1 month. This covers jpg, jpeg, gif, png, css, javascript, flash, ico and x-icon file types.

ExpiresDefault "access plus 2 days"
ExpiresByType image/jpg "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/png "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/css "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/javascript "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/javascript "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/x-shockwave-flash "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/css "now plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/ico "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/x-icon "access plus 1 month"

Download files only if the cached copy hasn’t been accessed in 10 minutes.

ExpiresByType text/html "access plus 600 seconds"

You can find a more robust explanation of these directives and all that expires_module offers in the Apache mod_expires Online Docs.

Implementation

Now that we have an understanding of how these directives can be configured, we need to decide on our method of implementation. There are generally two method of implementation for these directives. We classify these as either Portable or Include Methods.

Portable Method

The Portable Method uses .htaccess files to manage which directories are affected by the mod_expires configuration we are settings. These are handled like any other .htaccess file changes.

  1. SSH/FTP to the server
  2. Locate the directory which needs browser caching enabled.
  3. Modify the .htaccess file in that directory or create one if there is not one already.
  4. Add the needed directives from the Configuration Directives section above.
  5. Save the changes to the file.
  6. Done.

There is a small bottleneck caveat associated with .htaccess files. This caveat is not specific to mod_expires and is an overall Apache caveat with .htaccess files in general. In order for .htaccess files to work, Apache must scan every directory leading up to a targeted file looking for and applying any .htaccess files it finds along the way. This can create an I/O bottleneck on some server configurations. We recommend using the Include Method on all Cloud VPS Servers to avoid this type of problem.

Include Method

In contrast to the Portable Method, the Include Method takes advantage of the Apache include system. Apache only reads include files at startup so this prevents the I/O Bottleneck discussed above in the Portable Method section.

There are generally two ways to use the Include Method: Globally or Per Website. Either method requires locating and modifying the correct include files on the server. The correct files to modify is dependent on both distribution and server management software. We will discuss the correct locations for both methods on the various Liquid Web CentOS servers we support and listed in the Pre-Flight Check section above.

Global Includes

Applying the mod_expires directives globally is straight forward. It will have the effect of enabling the desired directives over the entire server, affecting every site running through Apache.

Core-managed CentOS 6 & 7 Servers

1.  Create a file named expires.conf in /etc/httpd/conf.d/ by typing in the following command:

vim /etc/httpd/conf.d/expire.conf

2. Add the necessary directives to the file and save the changes.
File should look like the following:

<IfModule mod_expires.c>
# Turn on the module.
ExpiresActive on
# Set the default expiry times.
ExpiresDefault "access plus 2 days"
ExpiresByType image/jpg "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/png "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/javascript "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/javascript "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/x-shockwave-flash "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/css "now plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/ico "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/x-icon "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/html "access plus 600 seconds"
</IfModule>

3.  To finish, reload Apache for the server to see the changes:

Service httpd reload

Fully-managed CentOS 6 & 7 cPanel Servers

1. Create file name pre_virtualhost_global.conf  in /usr/local/apache/conf/includes/ if it does not already exist.

vim /usr/local/apache/conf/includes/pre_virtualhost_global.conf

2.  Add the necessary directives to the bottom of the  file and save the changes.
Your file may contain additional directives in this file, but the bottom should look like this:

<IfModule mod_expires.c>
# Turn on the module.
ExpiresActive on
# Set the default expiry times.
ExpiresDefault "access plus 2 days"
ExpiresByType image/jpg "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/png "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/javascript "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/javascript "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/x-shockwave-flash "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/css "now plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/ico "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/x-icon "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/html "access plus 600 seconds"
</IfModule>

3.  Restart Apache Service:

/scripts/restartsrv_apache

If Running EasyApache 4: Restart Apache PHP-FPM Service

/scripts/restartsrv_apache_php_fpm

Fully-managed CentOS 7 Plesk Onyx 17 Linux Servers

1. Create file name expires.conf in /etc/httpd/conf.d/

vim /etc/httpd/conf.d/expire.conf

2.Add the necessary directives to the file and save the changes.
The file should look like the following:

<IfModule mod_expires.c>
# Turn on the module.
ExpiresActive on
# Set the default expiry times.
ExpiresDefault "access plus 2 days"
ExpiresByType image/jpg "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/png "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/javascript "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/javascript "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/x-shockwave-flash "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/css "now plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/ico "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/x-icon "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/html "access plus 600 seconds"
</IfModule>

3.  Restart Apache Service:

Service httpd restart

Per Website Includes

We can also use Apache includes on a per virtual host level to enable browser caching on an individual website basis. We’ll go over how to configure these on our CentOS systems below.

Note:
Each website has two virtual hosts, one for HTTP (port 80) connections and another for HTTPS (port 443) connections. Each virtual host is independent of one another. Adding a change to the HTTP virtual host will not automatically apply to the HTTPS virtual host and vice versa.
Core-managed CentOS 6 & 7 Servers

The exact method of site management on Core-managed servers is left up to the server owner. This can vary dramatically depending on the person. We will use the default SSL site configuration file as an example on how to configure the Per Website includes for browser caching. Once you locate the necessary site’s configuration file, follow these steps:

1. Locate and Open the configuration file for the site being modified. 

vim /etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf

2.  Locate the Virtual Host line for the site within its config file.  A Virtual Host Stanza looks like the following example:

<VirtualHost _default_:443>
…
</VirtualHost

3. Apply the needed mod_expires directives between the virtual host lines.
The results should look similar to the following example:

<VirtualHost _default_:443>
…
    <IfModule mod_expires.c>
    # Turn on the module.
    ExpiresActive on
    # Set the default expiry times.
    ExpiresDefault "access plus 2 days"
    ExpiresByType image/jpg "access plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType image/png "access plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType text/javascript "access plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType application/javascript "access plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType application/x-shockwave-flash "access plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType text/css "now plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType image/ico "access plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType image/x-icon "access plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType text/html "access plus 600 seconds"
    </IfModule>
…
</VirtualHost>
4. Restart Apache Service

Service httpd restart

Fully-managed CentOS 6 & 7 cPanel Servers

cPanel provides a rich template system that can be used to modify Apache behavior as needed. There is a specific directory structure needed to ensure our modifications persist through updates, upgrades and restarts. This system works the same way on both EasyApache 3 as well as EasyApache 4 systems.

 

Each site can handle its own set of custom include files. These need to be located in the following locations:


HTTP Virtual Hosts:
/etc/apache2/conf.d/userdata/std/2_4/<USER>/<DOMAIN>/<INCLUDENAME>.conf


HTTPS Virtual Hosts:
/etc/apache2/conf.d/userdata/ssl/2_4/<USER>/<DOMAIN>/<INCLUDENAME>.conf

There are three variables in the path above that need to be reconciled:

  • <USER> replaced by the necessary accounts username.
  • <DOMAIN> replaced by the fully qualified domain.tld name of the site. (minus the www. prefix)
  • <INCLUDENAME> replace by the name of the include file. This should reflect the include’s purpose. E.G. expires.conf

1. These directories do not exists by default and will need to be created. Once you know the details this can be done easily with the mkdir -p command like so:

HTTP Virtual Host:

mkdir -p /etc/apache2/conf.d/userdata/std/2_4/myuser/example.com/

HTTPS Virtual Host:

mkdir -p /etc/apache2/conf.d/userdata/ssl/2_4/myuser/example.com/

2. After the directories are created, we can now create our include files, calling it expires.conf.
HTTP Virtual Host:

vim /etc/apache2/conf.d/userdata/std/2_4/myuser/example.com/expires.conf

HTTPS Virtual Host:
vim /etc/apache2/conf.d/userdata/ssl/2_4/myuser/example.com/expires.conf

3. Add the necessary mod_expires directives to both expires.conf files. They should look similar to this when complete:

<IfModule mod_expires.c>
# Turn on the module.
ExpiresActive on
# Set the default expiry times.
ExpiresDefault "access plus 2 days"
ExpiresByType image/jpg "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/png "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/javascript "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/javascript "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/x-shockwave-flash "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/css "now plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/ico "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/x-icon "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/html "access plus 600 seconds"
</IfModule>

4. Now we will need to have cPanel rebuild the Apache configuration to apply the new includes.

/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/rebuildhttpdconf

5. Restart Apache to update the running configuration:
/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/restartsrv_apache

6. If running EasyApache 4, Restart Apache PHP-FPM service as well:
/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/restartsrv_apache_php_fpm

There are additional methods for handling virtual hosts in cPanel. Applying includes to all hosts or all HTTPS hosts or even all hosts by one user. For a much more in-depth explanation of the cPanel Virtual Host Include system, visit the Official cPanel Online Docs.

Fully-managed CentOS 7 Plesk Onyx 17 Linux Servers

Plesk provides a robust include and template system for modification of virtual host entries on an individual virtual host basis. These are done in the following files:

Note:
We will need to replace example.com with your domain name (minus www. prefix).
/var/www/vhosts/system/example.com/conf/vhost_ssl.conf

The directory structure here should already exist. However, these vhost.conf and vhost_ssl.conf files do not exist by default and will need to created.

1. Create the needed include files:
HTTP Virtual Host:

touch /var/www/vhosts/system/example.com/conf/vhost.conf

HTTPS Virtual Host:
touch /var/www/vhosts/system/example.com/conf/vhost_ssl.conf

2. Modify both vhost.conf and vhost_ssl.conf applying the necessary mod_expires directives. When finish each file should look similar to the following:

<IfModule mod_expires.c>
# Turn on the module.
ExpiresActive on
# Set the default expiry times.
ExpiresDefault "access plus 2 days"
ExpiresByType image/jpg "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/png "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/javascript "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/javascript "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/x-shockwave-flash "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/css "now plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/ico "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/x-icon "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/html "access plus 600 seconds"
</IfModule>

3. Have Plesk rebuild the configuration for the site in question
/usr/local/psa/admin/sbin/httpdmng --reconfigure-domain example.com

4. Restart Apache Service:
service httpd restart

The Plesk templates and includes systems is very robust and permits integration of many other common Apache directives. Visit the Plesk Onyx Online Documentation to learn more about leveraging its capabilities.

Editing MX Records

Posted on by C. Smith | Updated:
Category: Tutorials, WHM + cPanel | Tags:

How to Edit MX Records in DNS

Perhaps you are moving from using your web server for e-mail to a new service that offers advanced features such as Liquid Web’s Premium Business Email Hosting, or maybe you want your e-mail address to better reflect the business you conduct with your inbox. Either way, when changing mail servers, you will find yourself editing MX records. Each time you send a message, these records help an e-mail server figure out how to get your message where it needs to go. Once the message is ready to leave the server you send it from, it looks up the record for the domain where your receiver checks their mail. By the end of this article, you will be able to edit your domain’s MX records in cPanel or Plesk.

Preparation

This step is necessary whenever editing DNS entries such as the MX record. Before starting, you’ll want to make sure that the server you are editing the MX records with is the “name server.” The name server is the server responsible for letting browsers (and e-mail servers) know where your domain “lives” on the internet by providing the list of DNS records associated with the domain. DNS records provide information about domains to computers that need to interact with them to provide you with services. The key thing to note here is that you can only effectively edit the MX record at the name server for your domain. To look up your name server, you can use easyWhois. Once you get to the site, simply enter your domain and hit enter. Once the list of details loads, look for the “Name Server” lines. Usually, there is a ‘ns’ part with a number after it. That part after that tells you the server, and this is where you will login to cPanel or Plesk. For a refresher on how to login to your cPanel or Plesk server, you can look here: Logging Into cPanel or Logging Into Plesk.

Editing Plesk MX Records

Part 1: Removing The Old Records

  1. Once logged into Plesk, click the “Websites & Domains” tab on the left hand side.
  2. Find the section for the domain that you want to change an MX record for.
  3. If you see a bar with an arrow that points downward and reads “Show More” click that button, then click “DNS Settings,” otherwise just click “DNS Settings” in the section for your domain.
  4. Look at the “Record Type” column in the list, and find any entries that read “MX” (with a number after it). Click the checkbox on the left hand side for each of these entries.
  5. Towards the top of the page select the “Remove” button.
  6. At the “Remove the selected DNS records?” dialogue box that appears, select “Yes.”

Part 2: Adding Your New MX Records

  1. Towards the top of the page click the “Add Record” button.
  2. Next to “Record Type” click the dropdown box, and select “MX”.
  3. Ensure that the “Mail domain” section shows everything that comes after the “@” symbol for your e-mail address here. Most of the time this blank should be left empty. However, if your e-mail address is less common such as francis@research.example.com (instead of francis@example.com), you’ll want to make sure ‘research’ appears in the blank at the left. The domain (example.com part in this example) is listed automatically.
  4. At the “Mail Exchange Server” blank, enter the entire mail server you are changing your MX record to point to (Example: mail.example.com).
  5. At the next section, “Specify the priority of the mail exchange server”, click the dropdown box and select “5.” Most of the time that should be perfectly adequate, however if your new MX record has a number in the middle that does not match, you may change it from “5” to match the new record you wish to use.
  6. Click the “OK” button to proceed.
  7. You will now see a box at the top of the page that reads “The changes you made to DNS records are not saved yet. The changes are marked in the list of records. Click Update to apply the changes to the DNS zone. Click Revert to cancel the changes.”
    Click “Update.”
  8. Click the button marked “Apply DNS Template.”

You have now set up your new MX record(s) for your domain in Plesk.

Editing cPanel MX Records

  1. Once logged into cPanel for the domain you wish to set the MX record for, find the “Domains” section and click “Zone Editor.”
  2. Click “Manage.”
  3. Look at the “Type” column and find the entries with “MX” under that section.
  4. Select “Edit” next to the first MX entry.
  5. Under the “Record” section, set the priority to match the number given in the MX entry you wish to add, then place the server name at the right side of your entry in the “Destination” blank.
  6. If you have a second (or third, etc.) MX record line to add, click the arrow next to the “Add Record” button, and select “Add MX Record.” then repeat step 5.

If you want to set up or change MX records for multiple domains, you can use WHM. For a guide, check out step 2 of our Knowledge Base article “cPanel – How to Change a Domain’s MX Record”.

Additional Notes:

  • If you can spare 24-48 hours, it’s a great idea to reduce the TTL (Time To Live) for each MX record already in place BEFORE adjusting the other values for the MX record. These are given in seconds, and you’ll want to make sure they’re reasonably low (around 300 is a good value) to ensure that when you are ready to make your MX record changes they will spread throughout the internet without a long delay. After changing these TTL values, allow 24-48 hours before completing your final MX record changes.
  • Most of the time you will have the new mail server’s “hostname” (the server address in text form), however if you have only an IP address see this article for a procedure that will show you what to do before following the previous steps in this guide.
  • For a more detailed look at DNS records in general you can check out What is DNS.

Useful Links:

For instructions on how to look up an MX record and what it looks like, see Understanding MX Records.

This guide is not intended to be comprehensive, and if you need more detail about what we’ve gone over, this article is a great resource.

 

Free Website Migration Service

Posted on by Helpful Humans of Liquid Web
Category: Getting Started, Tutorials

How To Request Free Website Migrations from Liquid Web

The Migration team at Liquid Web is dedicated to providing you with an efficient and as uneventful a migration as possible. Whether you are migrating from a current Liquid Web server (internal migration) or from another host (external migration) into Liquid Web, it is important that we work together to ensure an effective transfer of information.

If you would like to skip the overview and go straight to the request form, you can do that clicking on this link for Requesting A Migration. At the bottom of this article we guide you through making a migration request. To request a Windows server migration, please open a Support Ticket with the Windows Team indicating that you are requesting a migration.

Otherwise, check out some helpful terms to know before your migration begins. Still have questions about what to expect? We have a handy guide called What to Expect During a Site Migration.

Before Your Migration Begins

Before you start your migration, there are a few terms that we use that you will need to be familiar with:

  • Initial Sync – This is the first of three stages of a migration. In this stage, access levels are determined and tested, version matching occurs, and the initial seed of data for your websites being migrated is brought to the new server.
  • Hosts File – The hosts file is a computer file used by an operating system to map hostnames to IP addresses. This file is a plain text file and stored on your computer or workstation, it is the first stop when your browser looks up a domain name via DNS. You can edit the hosts file to re-route requests for a particular domain name to a different IP Address. This is the preferred method of testing your site on your new server. This allows you to view the site as if it were live on the new server at Liquid Web and verify that all pages are working as intended prior to going live with a DNS update.
  • Final Sync – The final sync is the last transfer of data in the migration process. This is completed after you confirm that all testing has come back without any major issues to fix before the site goes live. The final sync typically updates files, email, and databases that have been changed since the initial migration of data. This is done with the source server no longer serving requests and is most effective when a DNS update is performed in tandem.
  • DNS Update – A DNS update is part of the final sync of your migration which makes the target server (the new server at Liquid Web) live. The DNS update can be performed in conjunction with a final sync, or on its own if a final sync is not possible.
Note:
Your site is not live on the new server until the DNS update has occurred. It is normal to see some errors during testing and most will resolve once the DNS has been updated.
  • Authoritative Nameservers – a specific nameserver which holds the authoritative DNS records for a specific domain. Authoritative nameservers are defined for a specific domain at that domain’s registrar. A change to DNS at the authoritative nameserver will make its way around the internet through propagation. This is why it can sometimes take a little while for your DNS changes to take effect.
  • Nameserver – A nameserver is computer hardware or software that implements a network service for providing responses to DNS queries. Nameservers serve several types of information for a certain domain name, including A Records, MX Records, and CNAME records.
  • Nameserver Glue – Nameserver glue is a record which associates a named nameserver with an IP address on the internet, much like a A Record associates a domain name with an IP address. This record is stored at the domain registrar. During migrations, if nameserver authority is moving from one machine to another, the glue records at the registrar will need to be changed after the final sync and DNS update.

Requesting a Migration

Migrations begin by filling out our form through your Liquid Web account.
1. Once you log into your account, click on the Migration Center link at the top of the page.

2. You will be directed to the Migration Center home page. Click on Create a Migration Request to begin filling out the form.

Note:
If you want more information about migrations to Liquid Web, we have linked our Help Center Migration articles in the Migrations tab. Here you can read our articles What to Expect During a Site Migration and Testing Best Practices for Migrations.

3. Once the Request Migration form opens, you will be given the option to name your migration and add your source account. Click on the Add a Source Account button to add information about the hosting account you are migrating from.

4. Click on the Add a Source button to add server access information for the source account. This is where you would add SSH or panel login details for the server or cPanel account you are migrating.

5. You can add more than one source by clicking the link Add a Source Account at the bottom of the section.

6. Next, you will select your destination. You can choose the server from the drop-down menu.  If you do not currently have a server at Liquid Web, click on the Create a New Server link to be directed to a page for you to purchase and create a server.

7. Provide us with information on what software you’d like to have updated with the migration, or if you don’t need or want updates, you can leave this as it is.

8. We will need information from you on the domains on the incoming server and DNS settings. You can choose what domains you want tested and how you want the DNS handled.

9. The final step before submitting your request is to review the information you’ve provided. When you are ready, click the Submit button and a ticket will be sent to our Heroic Migration team.

We will contact you to schedule the migration and stay in contact with you through the entire process. Once the migration is complete, the last step is to test your site.

Please see our article Editing Your DNS Hosts File for information on how to securely test your site. If at any time you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact our Heroic Support team by chat, phone or support ticket.

 

What is mod_deflate?

Posted on by Helpful Humans of Liquid Web
Category: Technical Support, Tutorials | Tags: , , , ,

How mod_deflate works

When a visitor accesses a website, a request is made to the web server for a specific kind of data. An example might be a home page of a site. Next, the web server locates that data and delivers it to the client who is requesting that data – basically back to the web browser.

In this example, the speed at which the home page loads can depend on a variety of factors. One of them could be how long it takes to find and deliver the data for that page. This is just one example.

Some of that data – such as javascript files, css files, and php files – can actually be compressed into smaller sizes before they are delivered back to the visiting client or browser at the smaller size. The visitor can now have a more optimized browsing experience.

This is where mod_deflate comes in.

Continue reading “What is mod_deflate?” →

Upgrading from the Legacy Storm Private Network

Posted on by Jerry Vasquez
Category: Technical Support, Tutorials | Tags: , , ,

The recently announced deprecation of the Legacy Storm Private Network has prompted several questions, the most frequent of which being: How to upgrade and am I affected? Fortunately this announcement only affects a handful of our thousands of clients, those being customers who started using the Private Networking back in 2013. If you’re not sure, you’re welcome to open a ticket and be certain.

Regarding the upgrade process, we’ve made that as easy as possible and accessible to anyone with access to the manage interface. This how-to will walk you through the steps you need to follow to get detach from the current implementation and get connected to the new, improved version.

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Upgrading PHP on Windows

Posted on by David Richards
Category: Technical Support, Tutorials | Tags: , , , ,

Performing an upgrade to PHP on Windows Server

Keeping your software and applications up to date is a crucial part of maintaining security and stability in your web hosting systems. Unfortunately, updating system components and back-end software can sometimes be a frustrating and a difficult process. However, thanks to Microsoft’s Web Platform Installer, upgrading PHP on a Windows server with IIS is as simple as a few clicks.

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RDP File Transfer

Posted on by Kevin Murphy
Category: Getting Started, Tutorials | Tags: , ,

How to Use Remote Desktop to Transfer Files to Your Windows Server

Transferring files to your new Windows Server can be a hassle when you are first setting everything up. Plesk, FTP, or network file sharing might not be quite ready to use or your internet service provider may block those web ports. This is where transferring files via the Remote Desktop Connection program comes in! You can redirect your workstations hard drive and it will appear when you are logged in.

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Installing SQL Express

Posted on by David Richards
Category: Tutorials | Tags: , ,

MSSQL Express 2017 on a Dedicated Server

Microsoft SQL Server is a powerful database that is commonly used with ASP.NET and other website programming languages. However, licensing for MSSQL can be expensive and is sometimes prohibitive for smaller businesses and applications. Fortunately, Microsoft provides a free version of MSSQL server called MSSQL Express. Installing MSSQL Express on your dedicated server is quick and easy, especially with the new features included in MSSQL Express 2017.

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Configure VSFTPD with an SSL

Posted on by Helpful Humans of Liquid Web | Updated:
Category: Technical Support, Tutorials | Tags: ,

How can I configure VSFTPD to support SSL encrypted connections?

In this article we will be discussing how to configure vsftpd to work with SSL encryption. If you do not have vsftpd installed yet you may wish to visit one of the these articles before proceeding.

How to install VSFTPD on CentOS 7

How to install VSFTPD on CentOS 6

How to install VSFTPD on Fedora 23

How to install VSFTPD on Ubuntu 15.04

Ready? Awesome, let’s get started.

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